What's on in Whistler during the Games

Imagining what our town will look like during the Olympic Games has been a difficult feat for most; that is, until recently, when the programming details for the entertainment at Whistler Medals Plaza and now other Whistler Live! venues, has finally started trickling down to the public.

And as the information emerges, it's getting easier to imagine what a day in the village might look like.

On any given day during the Olympics, people will be able to head to Village Square to partake in the ultimate après session (free and unticketed) with an impressive range of national and international artists performing until the sun goes down. The Whistler Live! team, responsible for coordinating all of the entertainment and programming at the live sites scattered throughout the village for 27 days during the Olympic and Paralympic Games, has just announced the lineup of artists that are booked to perform and the list is impressive.

The previously-announced acts include Barenaked Ladies, Blue Rodeo, Alberta rancher- turned-singer-songwriter Corb Lund, Montreal indie band Karkwa, the French Canadian groups La Volée d'Castors and Misteur Valaire, Austrian songstress Valérie Sajdik, Bedouin Soundclash, Hawksley Workman, Jully Black, the Sam Roberts Band and the U.S. funk, rock and hip hop group, Galactic. As well, local artists like The Hairfarmers, Ali Milner and Animal Nation will be performing.

Now, organizers have added 23 more acts to their Village Square roster.

The après sessions will start in the afternoon, but there is no set time for the music to begin as Whistler Live! organizers want the flexibility to work around the CTV sports feed.

"So if men's alpine starts at 10:30 a.m. and goes 'til 2 o'clock, well we know Manny's (Manuel Osborne-Paradis) going to win the Super G ... we're not going to turn off the sports feed to go put a band on!" Festival Director Kristen Robinson explained.

"We've taken all the best of all the feeds that we've gotten from CTV and all the sports that we... feel that the community wants to see, so that's the 'one foot in the stadium' experience. Go to Village Square, watch alpine skiing live or watch gold medal hockey or all these different pieces. Where there's holes in the CTV sports schedule, that's where we've laid in all of our après entertainment."